[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Alright, take your Bibles if you would and turn with me to the book of Romans chapter 7.
[0:11] Romans chapter 7. We're going to learn today that we serve in the newness of the Spirit. We serve our God in the newness of the Spirit. Romans chapter 7 verse 1.
[0:22] He wants us to learn about our relationship to the law. That's probably one of the most confusing things across America in our churches is our relationship to the law.
[0:33] It causes a great deal of arguments and hurt feelings and all sorts of things. But the Bible is pretty clear. So let's look at what it says in Romans chapter 7 verse 1.
[0:44] I think it might not hurt if we started out in verse 23 of chapter 6. The Bible says the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.
[0:56] Through Jesus Christ our Lord. That kind of sums it up. If you go with law and sin, you'll get what you earn and that will be the wages of sin is death.
[1:08] The New Testament is, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Know ye not, brethren? For I speak to them that know the law.
[1:19] How the law hath dominion over man as long as he liveth. For the woman which hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he liveth. But if the husband be dead, she is loose from the law of her husband.
[1:33] So then if while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she is free from that law. So that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
[1:47] Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that you should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
[2:00] For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in the newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
[2:19] Before I pray, would you go back to verse 4 and underline in your Bible, maybe, where it says, Ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that you should be married to another.
[2:32] And then you go down to verse 6, serve, the last part, serve in the newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. Father in heaven, I love you, and I thank you so very much for what you've done in our lives.
[2:45] And God, I want to ask you to help in the scriptures and make them clear to your people, and help us to be able to know that we are not under law, but we're under grace, that we would have the correct relationship to the law, and that we would serve you as bringers of honor and glory to your name.
[3:02] And I'll give you praise for it all in Jesus' precious name. Amen. The Apostle Paul starts off the chapter with two illustrations. So if you have your Bible there, the first thing you look at is that Paul illustrates our relationship to the law.
[3:15] Look at chapter 7, verse 1. Know ye not, brethren, for I speak to them that know the law. You guys know the law? How that the law hath dominion over a man as he long as he lives.
[3:27] The law has power over you and dominion over you as long as you're alive. If you're dead, the law actually has no dominion over you.
[3:38] Dead people are not required to follow the law. How many of you agree with that and understand? Say amen. There's no rules for dead people. You don't have a rule. Hey, dead person, you can't do that.
[3:48] If he's dead, there's no rules. Dead people are not required. Any law over you will lose its power the minute you die. It's always funny. They catch some guy. They almost find him guilty.
[4:00] And he's on trial. And he dies during the trial. The case goes away. It's over. Because when he dies, what are you going to do? The law has no dominion over dead people.
[4:12] That's his first illustration. The law has no dominion over dead people. In a minute, he's going to show you that by Jesus Christ, you are dead. And you're dead to the law. The second illustration he gives is found in verse 2.
[4:25] Chapter 7, verse 2. He says, for the woman which has a husband is bound by the law. But if he were to die, it says in verse 2, she is loosed from the law.
[4:35] In verse 3, it says she's free from the law. And that's an Old Testament thing. He's really here making an illustration. He's not making a statement. He's not explaining anything about divorce.
[4:48] Just like he doesn't explain anything about slavery when he says to a slave, you're to obey your master. He's not saying, I like slavery or I dislike slavery. He's just saying, slaves have to obey their master.
[4:59] And he's not making a political statement. And here he's not making a political or a marriage statement. He just says something simple. You know, men were allowed to get a divorce in the Old Testament. But women were not allowed to get a divorce.
[5:09] A man could get rid of his wife for about anything. But a lady would. She was stuck. If she got married, she was stuck until she got married. Probably some of our wives kind of feel that way this morning.
[5:20] Say amen. Like stuck. You know, not really, I hope. But he says, in the Old Testament, a husband could divorce his wife. But that wife could never divorce her husband.
[5:31] The Jews were married to the law. There was no way out. Just like the wife had no way out. The only way out was for her husband to die. If the married woman were to leave her husband, and she would be called an adulteress.
[5:44] By the way, if he left his wife, he wouldn't be called an adulteress. The point of the illustration is to teach us about our relationship to the law. He's talking to Jewish brothers. The people of Israel.
[5:55] People that know the law. And he says, through Christ, we find freedom from the law. Because we're dead to the law. The Bible says in Galatians 2.20.
[6:05] Look at this with me, if you would. Galatians 2.20. We're dead in Christ. We're dead to the law. We're free from legalism. The Bible says in Galatians 2.20. I am crucified with Christ.
[6:18] Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and died for me. I want you to circle in that verse, I am crucified with Christ.
[6:32] I don't know how many times as a young preacher and as a young Bible student, I thought I need to be crucified. I need to die. And I thought I wasn't. But the Bible says really clearly, I am crucified with Christ.
[6:44] I am dead to the law. We are free from the demands of the law and free to simply love Jesus. What have we seen so far about our relationship to the law?
[6:55] If you got your Bible open, go back to Romans chapter 5 and verse 20. God introduced law to show you just how sinful we are. In Romans chapter 5 and verse 3, the Bible says, Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace is much more bound.
[7:12] Do you know what God did when he brought in law? Well, God brought in law to say, hey, you are sinners. Hey, you are wicked. Hey, you can't accomplish it. Hey, you can't get good enough to go to heaven. Hey, you need somebody to stand in on your behalf because you failed.
[7:27] I would have never known I was a sinner if he hadn't told me what sin was. And he said, so he introduced law so that sin or offense might abound. We are not under the law.
[7:37] The Bible said in Romans chapter 6 and verse 14, go back there. In your Bible, you've been studying, you've been learning what our relationship to the law is. In Romans 6, 14, he said, for sin will not, shall not have dominion over you.
[7:50] For you are not under the law, but under grace. That's hard for us to understand, but that's what he's trying to show me. He said, hey, you're not under the law, but you're under grace. The illustration here in this passage has really got nothing to do with divorce and remarriage.
[8:05] There's plenty of Bible about that, but he's using an illustration from their culture. He's not talking about what happens with a man who gets a divorce. He's talking about what happens with a woman who gets a divorce. He's trying to say, you need to know who you are.
[8:16] You need to know that if you're a woman, you could never be free from your husband if your husband didn't die. The only way out is your husband needs to die because you have no recourse. And you and I could have never been free from the law except we die.
[8:30] And in Christ, we'll see in a minute, we die and we are separated from the law. And the law has no power over us. Would you go with me to Romans chapter 7 and verse 1.
[8:43] I want you to get the illustration down. Romans 7, 1. He's talking about the law. And I'll prove that to you in the next verse. He's just saying to you, I want you to understand. So look if you went at chapter 7 and verse 1.
[8:53] He says, know the law. Underline that. Y'all know the law. You understand the law. And then look what he says. The law hath dominion. Law has dominion.
[9:03] By the way, the law has not lost its power. The law has not lost its purpose. The law does not die. The law continues on living. We need the law to show lost people their need of Christ.
[9:14] We need the law to be a schoolmaster to bring people to Jesus. But the law with me is losing its dominion. I'll show you that in a minute. Chapter 7, verse 2, it says, bound by the law.
[9:25] She was bound by the law. In chapter 7 and verse 2, she is loosed from the law. In chapter 7, verse 3, she is free from that law. Now look this way just a second.
[9:37] You're not going to get verse, you're not going to get chapter 7 and understand it. You're not going to get chapter 7 and verse 4 if you don't get this. Here's what he was saying. I want to illustrate to you that you are in Jesus Christ free from the law and you're under grace.
[9:52] Dead people don't have to obey law. Dead people don't have to obey law. And a man, a woman whose husband has died is freed from that.
[10:03] He's illustrating a great point that he's going to explain to us in verse 4. Now watch the application. How does he apply the illustration? He starts with the illustration and shows me, hey, dead people don't have to keep the law.
[10:14] Dead people don't have to keep the law. A woman whose husband is dead is free from that old guy. She don't have to live with him anymore. Now look at chapter 7 verse 4. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become, would you repeat these words of me?
[10:28] You also are become, the next four words, are you ready? You also are become what? Dead to the law. You're also become what? Dead to the law. And how did you get dead to the law? Would you look at it?
[10:39] You are dead to the law by what? The body of Christ. And then he said that you should be, repeat these next three words. You should be what? Married to another. He's using the illustration.
[10:50] He said, remember when I told you that woman can't get remarried? Remember when I told you that if she is married to her husband, the only way she could get out of that was if he died? Well, you find out something. It's like he's dead and you are free and you can be married to another.
[11:04] Guess who you can be married to? Look at chapter 7 verse 4. Even to him who is raised from the dead. Now who is that? Who is he that is raised from the dead? Would you say it with me? Who is he that's raised from the dead?
[11:15] It's Jesus Christ. Who is it that's raised from the dead? Help me. Who's raised from the dead? Who is it? Jesus. That we should do what? Bring forth fruit unto God.
[11:25] Now I want you to look. Here's what he said to you. He said, you and Jesus are dead to the law. You and Jesus are dead to the law. You are also become dead to the law by the body of who?
[11:37] You're dead to the law by the body of? Christ. Christ. Look at your Bible. You're dead to the law by the body of? Christ. So I'm dead by the body of Christ. And it says I'm dead to the law by the body of Christ that I can be married to another.
[11:51] And who can I be married to? Jesus Christ. And I will bring forth fruit. So let's get some verses real quick. We are dead to the law. Galatians 2.19.
[12:02] The Bible says, for I through the law am dead to the law. I through the law am dead to the law that I might live unto God.
[12:13] Boy, you know what the law did in me? The law brought me to a place in my life that I found out how dead and wicked and sinful and horrible I was. It brought me down to the bottom of the pen.
[12:24] It got me to the end of my rope. It got me to where I had no way to go forward. And I had no life left. And it got me all the way down there. And when I was at the end of it all, I was brought to my death.
[12:34] And so I'm now dead to the law. I didn't know I was dead. I didn't know I was a sinner until the law came. But the law said, Austin, you have sinned against the holy God. Austin, you deserve to go to hell.
[12:45] Austin, you are a wicked person. And I had to cry out, oh God, I am wicked. And I have no hope. And I have no way. And he says, all right. Now then, through that, you're dead to the law that I might live unto God.
[12:57] To be dead to the law does not mean that we lead lawless lives. It simply means that the motivation and dynamic of our lives does not come from the law. It comes from God's grace through our reunion with Christ.
[13:10] You couldn't be saved by keeping the law. And you'll not be sanctified by keeping the law either. The law couldn't save you. And the law can't sanctify you. The law has a job. And its job is to say, you are sick.
[13:24] Its job is to say, you are sinful. Its job is to say, you need a savior. And the law accomplishes its purpose. Righteousness does not come by keeping the law.
[13:35] Galatians 2.21. Same place you were just reading. The Bible said, I do not frustrate the grace of God. For if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
[13:47] Can I just tell you that work salvation really makes a major mistake because it acts like it's what you do. And so if it's what you do and what I do and if it's what the church does and it's what the saints do and if it's what the virgin did, if it's what anybody else did, then Jesus died for nothing.
[14:04] We're saved because of what Jesus did. Can you say amen right there? I'm saved because of what Jesus did on the cross of Calvary. That's how I am saved. So I am dead to the law.
[14:14] So we can be married to another, to Jesus Christ. By the way, you and I were in Adam. We were in our old life. We were in the flesh and we were in Adam. And the law came and showed us how wicked we were and how sinful we were.
[14:29] We were happy in Adam until the law came. And the law came and showed us that we had sinned. And the law came and showed us what our destiny was. And one day we said, I don't want that anymore. And I'll trust Jesus.
[14:40] We were of the flesh. But we are now of the spirit. Well, this is hard for you to accept. Many Baptists have a real hard time with this. So let's see if the Bible says it.
[14:50] Romans chapter 8. Do you have your Bible open there? Romans chapter 8. The Bible says in verse 5. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. But they that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit.
[15:02] Two groups of people. One group, man, they're worried about fleshly things. Here's another way of saying it. They're worried about Adam type things. They're worried about this world type things. And there's another group of people that are minding the things of the spirit.
[15:15] Capital S. And the things of the spirit. They're born of the spirit. There's fleshly people and there's spirit people. There's people in Adam and there's people in Christ. Look at verse 6. To be carnally minded is death.
[15:28] But to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Same comparison. Carnally minded, Adam minded, worldly minded, dying. Spiritually minded, Christ minded, being in Jesus, peace and life.
[15:40] Verse 7. Ready? The Bible says because the carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God and it can't be. Neither can it be. Verse 7.
[15:51] I hope you notice this. The carnal mind. That's the Adam mind. The worldly mind. The not saved mind. Is an enemy of God. And it will not submit to God. It refuses to submit to God.
[16:02] And it says I won't do what you want me to do God. I've got to live my own life. I've got to do my own thing. It's an enemy of God. It can't be subject to the law of God. Verse 8 says, so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
[16:14] You know who they're talking about? The carnal guy. The Adam guy. The worldly guy. That's not us. That's not us. Look at me real quick. That's not us. That's not us. That's not us.
[16:24] We're not those people. I'm not in that family. I'm not the flesh family. Context. Verse 9. In case you thought I'm wrong. But you are not in the flesh. Ha!
[16:35] Would you read with me verse 9 out loud? Let me hear you say it with me if you would. But read me verse 9. Are you ready? But ye are not. Okay. Hold on. I thought we could.
[16:46] If you're in the flesh you can't please God. That's right. But you think you're in the flesh. But he said, verse 9. Would you read with me again? Read it with me. But ye are not in the. Hold on.
[16:57] If you've got a carnal mind it's enmity against God. If you've got a worldly mind, a fleshly mind, it's an enemy of God. And if you do that you can't please God. But you. Come on. Say it. But ye are not.
[17:08] Come on. Say it again. But ye are not in the flesh. Where are you then? Where are you then? Read it with me. But in the. Okay. Wait a minute. Where are you? You are not in the.
[17:19] But you are in the. Spirit. If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now watch this. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ. Would you read these last four words of me?
[17:31] Five words. One, two, three, four, five. Read these last five words of me. What does it say? If you don't have the Spirit of Christ. What are you? He is. He is. How many of you got the Holy Spirit living in you?
[17:42] Say amen. Have you been born again? You were in the old family. You're now in the new family. You were in the worldly family. Now you're in the spiritual family. You were in Adam and now you're in Christ. There's two families being mentioned here.
[17:53] Two of them. And I'm not that one. I'm this one. He made a difference in me. See he wanted you to see. He said guys let's start over. Some of you guys haven't figured this out yet.
[18:03] But you are dead to the law. You are dead to the law. You're not under law. You're under grace. It's a whole different thing. It's a different ball game. It's not who you are. Look at this.
[18:14] So that we can bring forth fruit unto God. In our previous life. In our relationship. We brought only fruit to death and shame. Look in your Bibles. Romans chapter 6 verse 21.
[18:25] Last week. Romans 6 21. What fruit ye had then in those things whereof you are now what? Say the word to me. What was the fruit you used to have? You are now what? Ashamed. What are you?
[18:36] Come on help me. What are you of the fruit you used to have? You are ashamed. And what did it bring forth? For the end of those things is? Death. We now bring forth the fruit of holiness. Romans 6 22.
[18:48] But now being made free from sin. And become servants to God. You have your fruit unto what? Holiness. And the end of. And the end? Everlasting life.
[18:58] You know what he said? He said. Hey buddy. When you were in Adam. When you were in Christ. When you were in Adam. And you were in the world. And you were carnal. You just did things that embarrassed you. You're embarrassed about it now. And all it had was death.
[19:08] But now you're in Christ. And it has life and holiness. You're a new person. You're dead to sin. Romans chapter 7 and verse 5. No matter how we tried. Our flesh could only produce death.
[19:21] No matter how hard we tried. Our flesh could only produce death. Romans chapter 7 and verse 5. The Bible says. For when we were in the flesh. The motions of sins which were by the law.
[19:32] Did work in our members. To bring forth fruit unto death. By the way. You could be a good guy. You could be at all the church services. You could be baptized in every creek. Until every toad frog knows you. By first name basis.
[19:43] You could have given out so much money. Every pew in every church. Is named after you. The place we were just this weekend. Or this past week. Every step had a plaque on it. It was a concrete step. But somebody bought a step.
[19:54] And every one of them had plaques on it. And I was like. Well that's an honorable place to have your name. Right? We all step on it. Every time we walk up. But hey. You can have all your name. Everywhere you want. But your flesh can only produce death.
[20:05] Somehow we have built legalistic systems and expectations. Both personally and as a church. We built our life around rules. Human nature makes us want to go to extremes.
[20:17] Since we're saved by grace. We can live as we please. We get a license to sin. Others say we're saved by grace. But we got to keep the law. To please God. What really is legalism?
[20:29] It's a belief that I can become holy and please God by obeying laws. It's measuring my spirituality by a list of do's and don'ts. The weakness of legalism is that it sees sins plural but not sin the root of trouble.
[20:47] It judges by the outward appearance and not the inward. And that's where we've been living so long. And Paul says I want you to understand something. It's not about that outward stuff.
[20:57] It's not about your actions. It's about what's going on inside of you. We are to serve in the newness of Christ. And if you keep up in our church and you follow around very much of what I would teach.
[21:10] I would show you a little triangle that says be, do, serve, train. And let me explain something to you. We do because we are. Be is the base level of your life. It is knowing God. It is the word of God doing a work in your life.
[21:21] It is God changing who you are. You are not who you were because you got saved by the grace of God. We do not do to be. We do because we are. So completely and totally different thing.
[21:34] We do not do things so we can be saved. We do not do things so we can please God. We do not do things for any of that reason. We do things because we are a new creature. Old things have passed away and all things are made new.
[21:47] So that gets us down to Romans chapter 7 and verse 6. We are now to serve in the newness of the spirit. Romans 7, 6. Your Bible says, but now we are delivered from the law.
[21:58] We are rescued from the law like that lady got loosed from the law. That being dead wherein we were held. We were bound by the law but now we are not held by the law. So that we should serve in newness of spirit.
[22:09] Not in oldness of the letter. We get to serve in the newness of the spirit. We live in the newness, not the deadness. Doing right is now written on our hearts, not on tablets of stone.
[22:21] The desires from the inside, not the threat from the outside. The law killed us, but the spirit gave us life. Let me read some first. We went through 2 Corinthians. We studied it, but let's review just a second.
[22:33] 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 6 if you would. 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 6. The law kills. Look at 2 Corinthians 3, 6. Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament.
[22:46] Not of the letter, but of the spirit. For the letter, what does the letter do? The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth what? The letter killeth. You say, I'm not sure what that means. Okay, verse 7.
[22:57] 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 7. The law was the ministry of death. That's what verse 7 is going to tell you. It was to bring us to the ministry of the spirit. Read 2 Corinthians 3, 7. But if the ministration of death, the ministry of death, written and engraven in stones was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, for the glory of his countenance, for its glory was to be done away, how should not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
[23:27] Watch this. That law is still great and wonderful and has a glorious ministry, because without that law, I would have never known I needed Jesus. Without that glorious ministry that shined and made Moses' face shine when the law was given, I would have never come to the place in my life that said, I am worthless and undone and filthy and don't deserve to be saved.
[23:47] But he brought that law. Hey, I want you to notice what the verse said. Did you underline what the verse said? It said ministration of death. Because the Ten Commandments didn't make anybody live.
[23:58] It caused people to die. For the wages of sin is death. You know what the law did? It said you're going to die. You know what the law said?
[24:09] It said honor your father and your mother. You didn't? Hey, I mean we read the Old Testament and we're shocked by it. They stoned their children to death. A woman got caught in adultery and she died.
[24:22] A man got caught in adultery. He died. A man picked up sticks on the Sabbath day one time. He just picked up two sticks and they killed him. Because the law is a ministry of death. But it's a glorious ministry because it brought us to Jesus who has a ministry of righteousness and the ministry of saving us and the ministry of changing us and that's glorious.
[24:43] We are meant to live in the newness of the Spirit. Moment by moment, obeying, yielding, and asking Him what is next instead of trying to follow threatening laws.
[24:57] Let me give you some practical application. Listen to this. We serve God not in the old law but in the newness of the Spirit. Today we serve God not in the old law but in the newness of the Spirit.
[25:10] The law nor sin any longer have dominion over us. We are in Christ. We died in Him and we live in Him. Now you look this way and listen just a second. Not one person in this room can say I just can't quit sinning.
[25:23] If you're born again, you can quit sinning. Yes, you'll be tempted and yes, you have desires and yes, there are things that will pull you down but sin shall no longer have dominion over you.
[25:34] That's what it said in Romans chapter 6. Can you say amen right there? You see what happens is you learn the truth and you believe the truth and you act like the truth is true and you yield yourself so that you live that holy life that God intended you to live.
[25:46] You know, you reckon and you yield which Trent preached to you so eloquently. The law nor sin any longer have dominion. God used the law to bring us to Christ to cause us to see our need of grace.
[25:58] The law does not make us holy. The Holy Spirit works in our hearts to make us holy. You can get up here. You can do all the New Year's resolutions you want.
[26:10] Most people make New Year's resolutions and if they're lucky, they make it a week or two. You can make all the I will not do that anymore. Turn over a new leaf. Start a new life.
[26:20] Be a different person but it doesn't work. The only one who changes us is the Holy Spirit of God. Serving God's not about externals but internals that affect externals.
[26:31] You see, it's not outside in, it's inside out. We do because we are. Trying or focusing on the law and externals has several effects on us and it has hurt us in Christianity.
[26:45] It makes us judgmental. We walk around like, I've been working on the outside and you ain't. And so I'm a lot further along than you are because I can look at you and I can see what I'm doing better than what you're doing.
[26:58] It frustrates us. Because we set these lofty goals for ourselves and we try our best to live up to them if we're in the flesh, if we're not letting the Spirit, we're not serving the newness of the Spirit.
[27:09] But we never quite reach our goal. We're never what we're meant to be. I don't know how many times I've said, I will pray every day at least 30 minutes. And I've set that as my goal.
[27:19] I'm going to pray every day 30 minutes and I'll make it a week, I'll make it two weeks. And all of a sudden, I'm like, you don't like me no more. And I'm frustrated. So I say, I'll never say that again. I'll just pray 15 minutes. No, I didn't get that done.
[27:30] Come on, be honest. You can set all the goals you want to set, but it's the work of God in you. It makes you judgmental and frustrates you. It'll cause you to get bitter and give up.
[27:40] There's so many Christians that lived without understanding this truth. You're not under the law, but you're in the Spirit. It is God who gives you this desire. It is God who writes it in your heart. And you're living not by what you do, but what He has done.
[27:53] It'll cause you to learn how to make excuses for your behavior. It'll cause you to learn how to make excuses. The fact is, it even makes you think this. I've been so good, God owes me.
[28:04] And then when something goes wrong in your life, you're like, God, nobody's prayed as much as I have. And nobody's given as much money as I have. Nobody's done all these other things like I have. You owe me. Come through. And when God doesn't come through, we're mad at God.
[28:16] Because we don't even understand. The law was only to bring me to Christ. It was never my measuring stick. It was never to make me holy. The law will suck the joy of the Christian life right out of you.
[28:30] Because you don't measure up. You don't measure up. You can't really live what you aren't. You can't really live what you aren't.
[28:41] If this morning, if you've never been born again, you can try all you want. You can write the Ten Commandments. You can memorize them. You can put them on your windshield. You can put them on your steering wheel.
[28:53] You can stick them in your socks. You can tie them around your wrist. You can hang them over your eyes. But they'll not change you. You can get up and say, I will honor my parents. I will honor my parents. I will honor my parents.
[29:03] But you won't honor your parents. Or you can come to a place in your life where you say, I give. I stink. I couldn't change me. I couldn't make me right.
[29:16] I surrender all. I give up. I can't. And when you do, Jesus will step in and make a complete and total difference in your life. You can't live what you're not.
[29:28] And by the way, if you are, you'll live it. Because as God makes a change in you, as He saves you, that holiness, He works to make you holy.
[29:39] We'll get to other passages of Scripture that will teach us how He goes about bringing about that holiness in us. But here's the main thing. Understand that Christianity is not built around the Ten Commandments. Understand that Christianity is not built around a bunch of rules.
[29:54] Christianity is not built around a bunch of do's and don'ts. Our churches became famous for what we were against more than what we are for. Our churches became famous for how we shot at people because we thought we were holier than them.
[30:05] That's because we didn't understand something. We're not under law. We're under grace. We're under grace. It's not about what I do.
[30:16] It's about what He did. So this morning, if you're not born again, I challenge you to accept Christ as your Savior, to trust Him and what He did on the cross.
[30:30] And if you're living a frustrated life, I'd like you to back up a second and say, It's really not about what I do. I am a new person, and I will trust God to work in my life. There's no reason for you to be all that frustrated.
[30:43] There's no reason for you to feel like you don't measure up. Let me explain something to you. You don't need to feel like you don't measure up. You just don't measure up. You don't need to feel like you don't measure up. You don't.
[30:54] You can say, I just don't feel like I measure up. Well, you're right. You don't have to feel like it. It's a fact. Not a feeling. It's a fact. You don't measure up. And the only thing that made a difference in your life is Jesus died on a cross and took all your failure and took all your mess and He put it on a cross.
[31:09] And He saved you by His grace. That's what happened. So if you're not saved, be saved. And if you are saved, learn Romans 6. To know who you are, to act like it, and to yield, present your body to Christ so He can use you.
[31:23] Father in heaven, I love you. And I pray that you'd bless this morning. I pray to God you'd save those that aren't saved. And I pray, God, that you would challenge those that are saved to trust you and to know that you are the one who makes a difference.
[31:34] And you're the one that brings about salvation. And you're the one that brings about holiness and sanctification. God, do a work in my life. And I will give you praise and honor and glory for what you do this morning.
[31:47] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfredo, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com, where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.